


light screen

by kurgaya



Category: Naruto, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Alternate Universe - Sakumo Lives, Ambiguity, Character Study, Companion Piece, Don't copy to another site, Drabble, Gen, celebi said today i will cause problems on purpose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25558996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: Sakumo squeezes his eyes shut, wondering if he hit his head. Wild pokemon are unpredictable, and it wouldn’t be the first time his curiosity got the better of him. That’s a researcher’s fatal flaw, he supposes, almost amused with himself.[Pokemon AU. Sakumo gets "lost" in Ilex Forest].
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	light screen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thosesweetninjas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thosesweetninjas/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Running after Raikou](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23435680) by [Thosesweetninjas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thosesweetninjas/pseuds/Thosesweetninjas). 



> Short companion piece to Sweets' pokemon AU. Happy birthday!! 🥳🥳

Sakumo doesn’t remember falling - or waking. He peels himself up from the forest floor. Leaves stick to his face and hair, and dark mud smears his coat. He is alone. This isn’t so surprising in itself, but the gap in his memory is a concern. Gingerly, he tugs a twig from his ponytail and throws it into the bushes. Bulbous eyes watch him from within; caterpie, most likely, or the poisonous gleam of weedle. Pidgey flutter in the trees above, and their feathers scatter the earth. It’s a cold night. Ilex Forest shivers around Sakumo, perpetually dark. For all that he remembers, it has snuck up on him, although such things are impossible. He must have brought himself here one way or another. He closes his coat around his neck, hearing coins and keys jingle in his pocket, and pokeballs tumbling together. There’s only two. The rest of his pokemon must be at the lab with Kakashi, but Sakumo digs out the pokeballs that he has.

Duraludon bursts free. The light scatters the peeping bug-type pokemon, and Duraludon’s waking screech frightens the rest. It looms taller than Sakumo, silver and blue. Its metal body glints in the specks of starlight. Square, yellow eyes narrow, and then Duraludon hunkers down to rest its jagged jaws atop Sakumo’s head.

“I’m not hurt,” Sakumo says, but Duraludon is a slow, immovable pokemon, and it’s just as slow to be reassured. Its bone-crushing claws inspect Sakumo for injury - but gently, always gently. It grumbles at the dirt on Sakumo’s clothes and the mud on his hands, but Sakumo truly is unhurt. Confused, most definitely, and cold, and Duraludon’s steel body doesn’t help in that regard. But he feels safer with Duraludon at his side. Sakumo has suffered plenty in his life, but less so with Duraludon watching over him.

The other pokeball is empty. Skarmory’s wings may be hollow but that shouldn’t be true for its pokeball. Sakumo rolls it about in his hand, considering. He isn’t prone to panicking, but Skarmory isn’t the type to wander off. It’s a fast and flighty pokemon, and sometimes he loses sight of it against the sun, but it always returns. It never flies further than Sakumo’s call - and never in the dark.

Duraludon presses its chin into Sakumo’s crown. The pressure sinks through Sakumo’s body, all the way to his toes. The earth is soft under his feet, and the soil slightly wet. Duraludon’s weight is reassuring, and Sakumo inhales, tucking Skarmory’s pokeball back into his coat. The air is heavy with a lingering rain and the dark trees of Ilex Forest weep with moisture. And yet - Sakumo himself is dry.

He checks his pokegear for the time - but the screen is dead. It usually holds a charge. He frowns, wondering how much time has passed. Had the rain fallen before he did? He thinks back to that morning, to Dai’s house, to coffee brewing in the kitchen and the amber haze of Goldenrod spilling into the room. Dai’s son had scared a flock of pidgey from the rooftop, still too young for a pokemon of his own but thrilled by them in every way. Sakumo had bid Dai farewell on Route 34, and the sky, he remembers, was high and bright. His research had compelled him into Ilex Forest once again, Skarmory swooping overhead. It had shone like a silver sun. He can’t recall any rain over Goldenrod - and where Skarmory has flown is anybody’s guess.

Perhaps it returned to Dai - or Goldenrod, screeching for help. Sakumo squeezes his eyes shut, wondering if he hit his head. Wild pokemon are unpredictable, and it wouldn’t be the first time his curiosity got the better of him. That’s a researcher’s fatal flaw, he supposes, almost amused with himself.

Duraludon growls. Its huge arms close around Sakumo protectively and then a flash of light blinds them both, green and brief. Like an appletun’s energy ball, it darts out of the gloom and through the canopy, and a sound like a bell rings in its wake. Memories flash in Sakumo's eyes in the same, gleeful green, and he remembers Skarmory chasing something through the forest to the old Ilex shrine. He thinks he sees that something now, whatever it is, as the light zip between the trees. For the shortest of moments, the light seems to have a shape - a small, human-like shape, but with a head like a teardrop - and then Duraludon throws up a light screen. The screen dazzles like a mirror between Sakumo and the light, and as he shields his eyes, the strange pokemon and the bell-like sound disappear.

Sakumo frisks his coat for his pokedex - and finds nothing. It must be at the lab. He curses, missing his chance.

“I wonder what that was,” he muses, bumping his head into Duraludon’s jaw. “I think it’s gone, my friend.”

Duraludon rumbles. The light screen shatters into pieces. Sakumo eases free from Duraludon’s hold, half-expecting the strange pokemon to return. It doesn’t. Ilex Forest darkens once again, lit blearily by the moon. A hoothoot tawit-tawoos from a tree and Duraludon snarls at it. The hoothoot scrambles from its perch and flies off after the other pokemon - towards the Ilex Shrine.

That’s why he was here, Sakumo remembers, to visit the shrine. Legends say a guardian pokemon dances around this wood, and it plays with time like a child playing an instrument, plucking at harp-strings with a disorderly sound. But that’s not the legend that interests Sakumo. Sometimes, there are whispers of a cold wind from the north, and a howl that causes the moon to cry. Something about Ilex Forest is beloved by the North Wind - the aurora pokemon, Suicune. One day, Sakumo will uncover that something. He will see Suicune for himself.

And for Kakashi.

Sakumo sighs. The Ilex shrine isn’t so far, and the researcher within him compels him to go. But he is a father, too, and a trainer, and Skarmory’s disappearance only encourages him home to his son. He was supposed to be back at the lab that afternoon, in fact, if it’s even the same afternoon. He taps his pokegear to no avail. A stream of angry messages from Tsunade probably fried it. He winces.

Kakashi must be worried. He’s enough of a handful in a good mood. Sakumo’s poor colleagues will need a pay rise. He can’t help but smile. He’ll have to leave Kakashi with Dai, next time, to save on coin and stress. Dai has been a family friend for many years, and his son, Gai, is one of the few peers that Kakashi tolerates. Those boys will be good for each other. Kakashi’s a bright boy. He never complains about Sakumo disappearing to research for hours on end, but the labs are no place for a child to stay. Sakumo should hurry back to New Bark. This trip to Johto was only supposed to last a couple of days and his colleagues back in Wedgehurst will be wondering why he’s late. That he brought Kakashi with him to Johto at all is unusual, and now Sakumo wishes he had left Kakashi at home. At least there, he would be oblivious to Sakumo vanishing into the woods.

 _These_ woods, at least. Zacian and Zamazenta must be tired of Sakumo losing his way in their weald.

His smile fades. Following the strange pokemon to Ilex shrine is tempting, but he mustn't. Duraludon's yellow eyes plead with him not to go. It would follow Sakumo, of course, as it has followed him to all over the world. Sakumo is fortunate to have such a loyal companion, and he thinks of Skarmory again, missing amongst the trees.

"We should return to Goldenrod."

Duraludon cries out approvingly and starts to nudge him in that direction. Sakumo allows himself to be led - but he's helpless to halt a dragon-type pokemon in its tracks. Duraludon may be the least argumentative of his pokemon, but it's stubborn in its own way. There's little Sakumo can do except follow Duraludon home.

 _Home_ is many miles away, and they must venture to Goldenrod and New Bark, first. Hopefully Dai won't mind the unexpected visit. The last thing Sakumo wants is to cause an inconvenience.

Behind him, a pair of hoothoot rotate their amber heads in time. They tilt like clocks up in the tree, tracking something beyond the sun, the moon, and stars. Sakumo doesn't pay them any mind, not even as the little guardian appears again in a dazzle of green. Its huge, black-rimmed eyes are bug-like and wondrous, and it stares at the wet earth where Sakumo had laid. It, too, tilts his head, but compared to the hoothoot it is completely out of time. Then it laughs, and the forest laughs with it like bells chiming over a town.

The night's moon threatens to weep again, watching Sakumo go.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated ✌️


End file.
